


Bedtime Story

by gillie



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-21
Updated: 2014-11-21
Packaged: 2018-02-26 12:20:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2651858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gillie/pseuds/gillie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma can't sleep. Post-"Breaking Glass"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bedtime Story

**Author's Note:**

> written for laschatzi who prompted "captain swan" + texting

_She knew me. Like, actually_ _knew me. And she took it all away._

Emma punched her pillow in frustration, the video of the Snow Queen defending her before reaching to turn off the camera playing in a non-stop loop in her head. She was bone weary and knew logically that she needed sleep before she could deal with…well, all of this, but sleep was as elusive as her memory of the event on the tape.

She blew out a puff of air in frustration and reached for her phone on the bedside table.  She convinced herself she was texting Killian totally on a whim.

_Are you awake?_

She hit send quickly before she could change her mind.  Less than a minute later, her phone buzzed with his reply.

_Aye, Lass. What’s wrong?_

She sighed heavily as she typed her response: _I can’t sleep._

Three dots appeared to let Emma know Killian was painstakingly tapping out a reply, and she felt a momentary pang that the loss of his hand (again) meant this piece of modern technology was infinitely harder to use now than it was just a few days ago. Hook never complained, about any of it, really, but she could imagine his frustration all the same.

_I’d be surprised if you could.  You already had the weight of the world upon your shoulders before tonight’s revelations._  There was a brief pause before she saw he was typing again. _What you need is a pleasant diversion. Shall I tell you a bedtime story?_

Before she could reply, her phone started to ring. She answered quickly before the noise could wake Elsa, who was fast asleep on an air mattress on the far side of Emma’s bedroom.

“So, Swan, what’s your pleasure? Naughty or nice?”

Emma smiled despite herself, and briefly contemplated the naughty option before reluctantly admitting, “Considering I’m sharing a room with the Queen of Arendelle, nice is probably more appropriate.”

“Don’t fancy an audience, love? Pity that. I guess the naughty will have to wait for another occasion.”  

 

“Just get on with it, Captain Innuendo.”

There was a deep breath on the other line, as if Killian was gathering himself up for the tale. She loved that he seemed to relish his role as storyteller. He was unquestionably good at it, a true master with words.  It was one of Henry’s favourite things about the pirate.  Hers too, to be entirely honest. And the accent didn’t exactly hurt, either.

“Long ago and far away, there was a devilishly handsome pirate gent who was hell bent on revenge.”

“Pretty sure I’ve heard this one before, Hook.”

“Well then, you should drift off from sheer boredom any second now, which I believe was the entire point of this exercise. Do you want the bloody story or not?”

Emma could practically hear his facetious pout.

“Don’t let me stop you from starring in yet another one of your swashbuckling tales.”

“Aye, I was a bit of a swashbuckler once. No one better with the sword than meself, save the one time I threw the match for love of a fair maiden.”

“Oh really?”

Killian chuckled. “It would have been bad form to fight an obvious novice in the same manner that took out experienced naval captains and their crews and liberated poncy knights of their purses. I may be a pirate, but I believe in a fair fight.  And dare I say it, it was the one fight I was happy to lose.

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

“It was against the same infuriating lass with whom I climbed a beanstalk mere days before. She was a feisty one, so singled-minded in her purpose, and quite immune to my innumerable charms. I was drawn, of course, to her haunting green eyes and icy glare, as much as her fiery spirit from the second I clapped eyes upon her, but it was when she poured out her soul to me on that hours-long climb that I knew I was done for.

Emma sucked in a breath, let it out again with a shudder, before forcing a small laugh. “Poured her heart and soul out, did she?”

“Aye! She was an open book,  all gold and green, leather bound, full of tales I will never tire of. She was the one book I never want to put down.”

She swiped at her eyes to stop the tears that were starting to pool. Maybe she was gripping her phone just a little tighter now. “So…what happened next?”

“It took a bit of doing, but I think I started to win the lass over. Nothing like a bit of physical exertion to quiet the fears and gentle the soul, eh? I almost think she liked me by the time we reached the top. It was there that she found herself grievously injured by a thorn that pricked her delicate hand. I sacrificed my favourite scarf and a goodly portion of my rum just to have the barest hope of winning her heart.”

“And did you? Win her heart?”

There was a pregnant pause as Killian readjusted his phone.

“Now now, Swan. It’s bad form to skip to the end of my story, which, if you think about it, is truly an epic tale of multiple betrayals, redemptions, quests that spanned at least several realms…”

The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. “You have it, you know.”

The other line fell dead silent. She couldn’t hear so much as a breath, which she suspected he was now holding.

“KIllian?”

She finally heard him swallow loudly, followed by the tale-tell rustle of fabric as he shifted in his small bed at Granny’s.

“Yes, Swan?”

Emma felt herself shifting as well, steeling herself for what she was finally ready to say.

“My heart. You have it. Hell, you’ve had it longer than I realized. I think you’ve been gathering it up, bit by bit, since the day I met you.”

Killian’s voice was slightly broken as he responded, “I’d…I’d  say I wish you had told me then, but a very wise man once told me that it’s not about the destination, but the journey.”

Emma sensed another story and decided to take a chance. “Oh yeah? Who was that?”

“My brother, Liam. He would often clap me on the back and share that particular platitude. I used to think it was absolute rubbish advice for a captain to give his navigator.”

She laughed, perhaps a bit too loudly given the hour, “I can imagine he got a kick out of winding you up. I wish I could have known him. Something tells me I would have liked him very much.”

“Aye, lass, and he you.”

Across the room, Elsa coughed in her sleep before rolling over, suddenly reminding Emma that as much as she might like to be, she wasn’t alone with her pirate. She definitely needed to get her own place.  And soon.

“Hook, I hate to say it, but I’d better go. Just because I can’t sleep doesn’t mean I should keep Elsa up all night with our babbling.”

“Speak for yourself, Swan. I do not babble.” Killian sighed in resignation. “Do you feel any better?”

“Yeah, I think I do. I have no idea how you do it, but you always seem to know the exact right thing to say to me to help me feel better.”

“What can I say, Swan? It’s one of my many gifts.”

Emma snorted. “Full of yourself much?”

“Always.”

She shifted more deeply into her pillows, and readjusted her quilt. “Good night, Hook. And thank you.”

“Good night, love. Dream of me.”

“You wish.”

“Aye, that I do.”

Emma laughed in exasperation. She felt like a giddy teenager, unable to hang up first. “Good night, Killian.”

He laughed as well. “Good night, Emma.”

The line went dead, and Emma reluctantly placed the phone back on her nightstand, letting out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. She was about to close her eyes when the vibration of her phone on the wooden table gave her a start.  The message that glowed on the screen warmed her from the inside out.

_“And you have mine. -KJ_


End file.
